Report: Falcons will interview interim UCLA Head Coach Jedd Fisch for QBs coach

The Falcons are seeing yet another quarterbacks coach move on, with 2017 hire Bush Hamdan going back to college. That leaves them with an opening, and they’re being linked to an intriguing name.

Fisch is a big enough name in coaching circles that he was thrown out as a possibility at offensive coordinator if the team moved on from Steve Sarkisian, but as we know, the Falcons will retain him this year. That leaves Fisch with a chance to work with Matt Ryan, which has tended to be a lucrative stepping stone for NFL coaches ranging from Matt LaFleur (Rams offensive coordinator) to the many offensive coordinators (Mike Mularkey, Dirk Koetter, Kyle Shanahan) who have gone on to become head coaches after working with him.

Fisch, strangely enough, is a more experienced NFL coach than the offensive coordinator he would be working under. He has been an offensive coordinator (with the Jaguars, 2013-2014), a wide receivers coach (Broncos, 2008), and quarterbacks coach (Seahawks, 2010) in the NFL, and has experience at all those spots and head coach in the college ranks. He was heavily involved in the UCLA Bruins offense this season, presiding over top prospect Josh Rosen’s final college season.

That experience and Fisch’s relative youth make him the kind of coach that seems destined to come boomeranging back around to an offensive coordinator gig, and a stop with the Falcons’ offense could be a stepping stone for him. Certainly his disastrous experience with a Chad Henne-led Jaguars team in 2013 and 2014, which saw his offenses finish among the worst in the league in terms of both yardage and scoring, is not going to get anyone excited to give him another shot. Some time spent with the theoretically high-flying Falcons offense, though? That’s a hot ticket, and Fisch must be making the assumption that Atlanta will return to form a bit in the next year or two.

I don’t know what kind of impact Fisch would have just yet, but this hire fits with the Dan Quinn pattern of filling his staff with interesting minds, and he has coordinated an NFL offense in the past. That would give the Falcons a safety net if Sarkisian’s offense sputters again in 2018, though I think we’re all hoping we can avoid that outcome.

Now let’s see if they make the hire.